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This essay was featured in our Conscious Citizens Dispatch #32. Click here to read the full newsletter!
History is a story of constant struggle, and we share tales of organizing and activism from around the world because we want you to realize that this has never been a one-sided struggle. Wherever oppression and authoritarianism has existed, there has always been fierce resistance, and by learning what has been done before to fight for a better world, we can get clues for how what we need to do today to keep the fight going.
Some of our favorite stories from this year include:
- The Rebel Clown Army | from Dispatch #15
- The Clandestine Insurgent Rebel Clown Army (CIRCA) was an anti-authoritarian activist group active in the UK from 2003 to 2005, using clowning and humor to protest against issues like corporate globalization and war, and a fantastic example of how whimsy, humor, and fun can be weaponized in militant organizing.
- The Zapatista Uprising | from Dispatch #13
- The Zapatista Army of National Liberation is a far-left political and militant group who has controlled a large portion of southern Mexico since 1994. They are one of the most successful modern examples of an indigenous liberation movement reclaiming territory and governing themselves.
- Chile Before the 1988 Plebiscite | from Dispatch #20
- Augusto Pinochet was a brutal dictator of Chile from 1973-1988, but a referendum in 1988 gave Chileans a chance at change. A massive nationwide organizing campaign urged Chileans to vote “No” and successfully toppled the violent regime.
- Greenham Commons Peace Camp | from Dispatch #17
- One of the longest running occupations in the world was the Greenham Commons Peace Camp which was established to resist nuclear weapons being stored in the UK, and lasted over 20 years.
- How Students Defeated Their Dictator Serbia | from Dispatch #27
- Otpor ("Resistance" in Serbian) was a Serbian student-led civil resistance movement founded in 1998 that used humor, satire, and creative street theater to mobilize mass opposition against dictator Slobodan Milosevic. Otpor successfully undermined the regime's pillars of support and played a pivotal role in driving Milosevic from power in October 2000.
- How Kurdish are Recreating Kurdistan | from Dispatch #23
- After the Sykes-Picot agreement divided the Middle East between colonial powers, the Kurdish people were left state-less. The Kurds in Syria launched an ambitious and innovative political experiment called Rojava (or the Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria) based on the ideals of Democratic Confederalism, a system of decentralized, grassroots democracy organized through local communes and councils. Today they control 1/3 of Syria in a relatively stable coalition, representing one of the most exciting political experiments happening today.
